A statement released by Elia Lomuro, South Sudan's Minister of Cabinet Affairs, said a committee was established "to investigate the circumstances of the death of journalist Christopher Allen" — developments happening following years of international pressure.
The United States, Britain, media campaign groups and Allen’s family have long called for a probe into the killing of the U.S. journalist that died on August 26, 2017.
Allen, 26 and a dual U.S. and British citizen, was shot in the head during a battle between the rebels and South Sudan's army in the southwestern town of Kawa.
He had been embedded with rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Army In Opposition, SPLA-IO, to report on the conflict that erupted just two years after the country declared independence.
The 2013-2018 war between forces loyal to two sworn enemies, President Salva Kiir and his now deputy Riek Machar, claimed the lives of almost 400,000 people.
After Allen's death, the government denied reports that its soldiers had deliberately killed him.
"The killing of Christopher Allen was not targeted," Information Minister Michael Makuei said at the time.
"But anybody on that side is usually a target," Makuei added.
The information minister previously described Allen as a "white rebel" and claimed he had been in the country illegally.
In August, the U.S. and Britain issued a statement on the sixth anniversary of Allen's killing calling on South Sudan to conduct a "credible investigation."
Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, also urged Washington to lead a probe into his death because of Juba's "failure to hold anyone accountable."
"Available information demonstrates that war crimes were committed in the deliberate targeting of Allen and the treatment of his body after his death, including trophy-style photos," RSF said in a statement released in August.
South Sudan ranks 118th out of 180 countries on RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index and the group said at least nine journalists have been killed in the world's youngest country since 2014.
"Impunity prevails in nearly all cases," RSF wrote on its website.
"Both South Sudanese and foreign journalists who try to provide independent reporting expose themselves to execution, torture, abduction, arbitrary detention, poisoning, and harassment," it added.